Deputies from Sampson and Bladen counties shot a woman after she stabbed a deputy early Tuesday.
In a news release, Bladen Sheriff Jim McVicker said the incident occurred near White Lake. Sampson deputies had asked for assistance after the suspect, whose name has not been released, fled a traffic stop in Salemburg.
Bladen deputies deployed stop sticks in the front yard of a home on East Oak Street and disabled the woman’s vehicle, and as she exited the Saturn automobile, “the subject displayed a knife” and stabbed a Sampson deputy in the leg while fighting with law enforcement.
“After being met with lethal force, deputies from Sampson County and Bladen County Sheriff’s Office discharged their service weapons striking the female suspect,” Sampson Sheriff Jimmy Thornton said in a press release. “A canine at the location was also tragically struck during the encounter and succumb to its injuries.”
The suspect was transported by ambulance to Novant New Hanover, and the deputy was taken to Sampson Regional. He has since been released, the SCSO said. The woman’s condition was not available.
Deputies were first called to Salemburg around 2:44 a.m. on a report of a suspicious person, Thornton said. A Main Street resident called 911 after seeing and hearing the woman in his yard, honking her car horn and shouting that someone “was out to get her”. The resident, who did not know the suspect, said she was brandishing a knife.
The suspect fled the scene as deputies arrived, and they began pursuing her vehicle into Bladen, where they called BCSO for assistance.
White Lake Police were involved in the incident but not the shooting. The State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the case, as is standard for all officer-involved shootings.
